EIF: Scottish Chamber Orchestra Review

Haydn's Symphony No 70 in D was written to celebrate the start of the construction of a new opera house on the Eszterhaza estate following a fire. It is about optimism and confidence in the future and Garry Walker conducted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in a way that made us feel good.

Giorgio Battistelli's orchestral composition Fair is foul, foul is fair was commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and we were hearing its world premiere.

Battistelli is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music born in 1953 who specialises in works linked to the theatre. This is from Macbeth, the Scottish Play, where the three Weird Sisters are muttering the title words.

The music is at one moment of terror and another of the muttering of evil schemes, obsessive plotting and compulsive violence. Easy to listen to, but busy, and then calmed by the violas. A treat that should be repeated before too long.

After the interval we were joined by the four soloists and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus for Haydn's The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross written originally for Cadiz Cathedral, where between each Adagio, the bishop delivered his Lent discourse. It was beautifully sung in an easy to follow German and the programme gave us the translation.

Performance: Wednesday, 26 August